He’s a bestselling author now, but Jeffery Deaver took a convoluted path to get there.

Deaver is a former journalist, folk singer and attorney whose books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. Some of his recent works include “Edge,” “The Burning Wire,” “Roadside Crosses,” “The Bodies Left Behind,” “The Broken Window,” “The Sleeping Doll” and “More Twisted: Collected Stories, Volume II.”

As part of the 2012 Savannah Book Festival, Deaver will discuss his James Bond novel “Carte Blanche” on Feb. 18 at Trinity United Methodist Church, with a book signing afterward.

“I’m one of those authors who believes part of the job of writing a book is making sure it gets into the hands of fans,” Deaver says. “I have a fairly active publicity department that looks for well-known literary events.”

Although Deaver was invited to the festival a few years ago, he couldn’t make it. “I put it down this time as a priority. I’ve been to Savannah and love the city very much. I also go to Hilton Head.”

But Deaver has come here before as a dog breeder, not an author.

“I breed and show dogs as well as writing books,” he says. “It takes my mind off dark thoughts.”

The dogs are briards, French herding dogs. “They look like double-wide afghans. It’s a very diverting hobby, and we enjoy it very much.”

Being famous has its perks. Deaver once made an appearance -- as a corrupt reporter, no less -- on his favorite soap opera, “As the World Turns.”

As someone who grew up reading Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, Deaver was thrilled to be chosen by the Fleming estate to write one. His 2004 novel “Garden of Beasts” won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain for the best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond.

“Apparently, surviving members of the Fleming family were in the audience,” Deaver says. “They looked at my other books and asked if I would be interested in doing a continuation novel.”

Four other writers before Deaver have written James Bond continuation books. “I was very honored and delighted to be doing it.

“I read the James Bond books when I was about 8 years old,” Deaver says. “Back in the 1950s, thrillers were fairly tame. I just loved the adventure aspect of the books.”

But his James Bond is different from all the others.

“I said I would do it only if I could make it present day and have James Bond be around his mid 30s,” Deaver says.

“I felt the immediacy of the story is what gives my books their edgy tension. Had I set ‘Carte Blanche’ back in the 1960s, I don’t think it would have worked. I don’t want to write an interesting book, I want to write a compelling book.”

The book became a No. 1 bestseller in the United Kingdom and also sold extremely well in the United States. “I wasn’t thinking about money when I wrote it. It was a real kick for me. I had a lot of fun doing it.”

Would he do another?

“I can’t say there won’t be any chance, but I’ve got two series of my own,” Deaver says. “I have a loyalty to my fans.”

Many of those fans sent letters to Deaver because they were concerned he would stop writing his other books to write about James Bond. Not to worry, he says.

“I’ve completed the latest Kathryn Dance and am working on the next Lincoln Rhyme and a short story collection,” Deaver says. “I’m back to my traditional stuff.

“Writers write for the reader, they don’t write for themselves. We owe such an obligation to people who are reading our books, we have to give them something compelling that is fast-paced and leads to sweaty palms. That should be true of literary fiction, as well. It has to engage the reader.”

When Deaver created his popular character Lincoln Rhymes, he wanted to give readers a book that was exciting as a standard thriller, but somehow different. “I decided what we haven’t we seen is a Sherlock Holmes-type character who can out-Sherlock Sherlock Holmes.

“I wanted him to be purely cerebral,” Deaver says. “I said I was going to create a hero who isn’t able to pull out a gun, who can’t fight, who has to mentally overcome the evil. I wanted to go all the way and see if it worked.”

So Deaver made Rhymes a quadriplegic forensic scientist who must send his partner, Amelia Sachs, out to do the field work. It was a gamble, but the Lincoln Rhymes series is Deaver’s most popular.

“I had no idea he would become as internationally popular as he has,” Deaver says. “There are Lincoln Rhymes fan clubs. He was doing CSI before CSI existed.”

Almost as popular is the Kathryn Dance series, about a California Bureau of Investigation special agent. “She is more of a people cop. I alternate between the two of them and am able to keep all my fans happy.

“The folks who love crime scene work, they get Lincoln,” he says. “If they want the dark psychological element of crime, they have Kathryn. I enjoy putting Lincoln in Kathryn’s books and vice versa.”

Rhymes' first appearance was in “The Bone Collector,” which became a film starring Denzel Washington, delighting Deaver. “I’ve been as influenced by films as books.

“But the idea of trying to write a film is a mystery to me,” Deaver says. “I’m delighted to sign over the rights to someone I think will do a good job. I really don’t have interest in getting involved. I hear authors say, ‘They took my baby away,’ and at that point I want to say, ‘When did you send the check back in protest?’”

The audience is smart enough to know whether the film is bad -- it’s not the author’s fault, Deaver believes.

“They’re not going to stop reading,” he says. “And it’s interesting to see other people’s interpretations.”

A Lifetime movie version of his novel “The Devil’s Teardrop” was very close to Deaver’s book, except the director swapped some of the characters. “I kind of wished I’d done that in the book,” Deaver admits. “It made a little more sense than what I’d done.

“At the end of the day, I write books and take whatever money they give me. I’ll enjoy watching it like a spectator.”

At the festival, Deaver has no plans to read from his book.

“I think the fans are much more interested in meeting me and knowing me,” he says.

“I do about 30 or 40 events a year. I talk about writing, I sometimes give an inspirational speech about the creative process. I tend to be more humorous than anything.

“I talk about the craft of writing and how to put a book together,” he says. “I’m rather opinionated about that. It’s a manufacturing industry that makes what people want.”

In Deaver’s experience, 10 percent to 20 percent of any given audience is composed of aspiring authors. “They are there to learn the craft.

“People who want to learn how to write have to approach it in those terms rather than wait for the muse to inspire them,” he says.

“I don’t believe in a muse. If you don’t channel and structure creativity, you’ll end up with a book that is less serviceable to the audience.”